Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 37

Devanagari script

त्रयो वर्णास्त्रयो लोकास्त्रैविद्यं पाठकास्त्रयः । त्रैकाल्यं त्रीणि कर्माणि त्रयो देवास्त्रयो गुणाः । सृष्टं येन पुरा देवः स कथं क्षेत्रमाश्रितः

Transliteration

trayo varṇāstrayo lokāstraividyaṃ pāṭhakāstrayaḥ | traikālyaṃ trīṇi karmāṇi trayo devāstrayo guṇāḥ | sṛṣṭaṃ yena purā devaḥ sa kathaṃ kṣetramāśritaḥ

Translation

ਤਿੰਨ ਵਰਣ, ਤਿੰਨ ਲੋਕ, ਤ੍ਰੈਵਿਦ੍ਯ ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਪਾਠਕ; ਤਿੰਨ ਕਾਲ, ਤਿੰਨ ਕਰਮ, ਤਿੰਨ ਦੇਵ ਅਤੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਗੁਣ—ਜਿਸ ਨੇ ਪੁਰਾਤਨਕਾਲ ਇਹ ਤ੍ਰਿਯਾਂ ਰਚੀਆਂ, ਉਹ ਸ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਟੀਕਰਤਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਇਕ ਖੇਤਰ ਦਾ ਆਸ੍ਰਿਤ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ?

Word by Word

• trayaḥ: three
• trayaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/प्रथमा), बहुवचन; संख्यावाचक विशेषणम्

• varṇāḥ: social classes/varṇas
• varṇāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: varṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/प्रथमा), बहुवचन

• trayaḥ: three
• trayaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• lokāḥ: worlds
• lokāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: loka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• trai-vidyam: the threefold Vedic knowledge
• trai-vidyam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + vidyā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: द्विगु/तत्पुरुष-प्रायः (‘threefold knowledge’, i.e., the three Vedas); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• pāṭhakāḥ: reciters/students
• pāṭhakāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: pāṭhaka (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• trayaḥ: three
• trayaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• trai-kālyam: the three times (past/present/future)
• trai-kālyam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक) + kāla (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: द्विगु/तत्पुरुष-प्रायः (‘three times/threefold time’); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• trīṇi: three
• trīṇi: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, बहुवचन; संख्यावाचक विशेषणम्

• karmāṇi: acts/ritual actions
• karmāṇi: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: karman (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, बहुवचन

• trayaḥ: three
• trayaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• devāḥ: gods
• devāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: deva (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• trayaḥ: three
• trayaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tri (संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• guṇāḥ: qualities (guṇas)
• guṇāḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: guṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• sṛṣṭam: was created
• sṛṣṭam: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √sṛj (धातु; सर्जने)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; कर्मणि — ‘was created’

• yena: by whom
• yena: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: तृतीया (3rd/तृतीया), एकवचन; करण-सम्बन्धे

• purā: formerly
• purā: Kala (Time/काल)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: purā (अव्यय)
• Form: कालवाचक-अव्यय (adverb of time) — ‘formerly’

• devaḥ: the god
• devaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: deva (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• saḥ: he
• saḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• katham: how
• katham: Sambandha (Interrogative/प्रश्न)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: katham (अव्यय)
• Form: प्रश्नार्थक-अव्यय (interrogative adverb)

• kṣetram: the field (holy place)
• kṣetram: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kṣetra (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन

• āśritaḥ: has resorted to
• āśritaḥ: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ā-√śri (धातु; आश्रये)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त (past passive participle), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्तरि ‘having resorted to’

Speaker

A questioner within the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya dialogue (listener addressing the narrator/teacher)

Tirtha Mahatmya

Tirtha: Prabhāsa

Type: kshetra

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: Sages / interlocutor

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A grand cosmological diagram rendered as living imagery: three worlds stacked, three guṇas as colored streams, three times as a wheel, Vedic triad as three flames, while the Lord stands beyond them, and Prabhāsa appears as a luminous coastal node where sages contemplate these triads.

Characters & Entities

• Deva
• Traividya
• Triloka
• Triguṇa

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

The Lord who structures the cosmos and Dharma is beyond limitation; sacred places magnify devotion but do not contain Him.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

Prabhāsa-kṣetra is the contextual tīrtha, approached through a rhetorical question about divine ‘residence’ there.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

No explicit rite is prescribed; the verse uses cosmological triads to emphasize the Lord’s supremacy in the Prabhāsa narrative.